Europe space agency explores manned missions with China

ESA also wants nation to join International Space Station program if U.S. can agree

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Former German astronaut Thomas Reiter speaks during a news conference in Cologne, Germany, on Jan. 18, 2007, talking about his six-months mission aboard the International Space Station ISS. The European Space Agency is exploring the possibility of cooperating with China on manned space missions by the end of the decade.

Since the end of the U.S. shuttle program ESA has had to rely on Russia to get into space.

Reiter said the 19-nation agency plans to hold a series of meetings with its Chinese counterpart, the China National Space Administration, that will explore closer cooperation in the areas of astronaut training, spacecraft docking and developing life support systems.

Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: "Astronaut Abby" is at the controls of a social-media machine that is launching the 15-year-old from Minnesota to Kazakhstan this month for the liftoff of the International Space Station's next crew.